A new email phishing scam has been revealed, which uses official HMRC branding and graphics to target UK businesses to convince them that their COVID VAT deferral application has been rejected.

According to Business Matters, a report from Lanop Outsourcing revealed that over 100 business owners have stated they have received the phishing scam.

To assist businesses throughout the coronavirus crisis, HMRC has allowed VAT payments from between March and June 2020 to be deferred until 31 March 2021. The scammers have tried to use this to trick business owners into revealing sensitive information, such as their account names, passwords, and financial information.

The scam email in question begins: “Dear customers, your request for a deferral of VAT payments due to coronavirus (COVID-19) has been rejected… Summary of reject justification: ‘the claimant is in arrears.”

The email attempts to convince the recipient of its legitimacy, linking to official-looking documents which redirect to a fake HMRC website, prompting the user to enter their sensitive information, ready for the hacker to harvest it.

This phishing attack is the latest in a long line of HMRC-branded email scams designed to trick business owners into revealing their confidential data. According to a recent report, coronavirus-related phishing attacks have rocketed by 667 per cent since February, and the new HMRC scam is the latest to take advantage of the crisis.

It is important to develop training for employees so they are able to easily recognise phishing emails and scams, which are also taking advantage of the number of employees working remotely, and without the protection of company firewalls and basic cybersecurity.

Always remember that organisations such as HMRC will never ask for credentials of any kind, and never to click links sent in an email.

If you need tax planning accountants in Maidenhead, come and talk to us today.